Guiding During The Coronavirus Pandemic?

PHOTO: The author is keeping track of the fish during the shutdown, but is unable to take clients out fishing due to fear of COVID-19.

By Tim Moore
Contributing Writer

I have been fielding phone calls from repeat and prospective clients for weeks, wanting to book fishing trips for salmon on Lake Winnipesaukee, or wondering if we (Tim Moore Outdoors) are still open. Some of our clients check in to see how we are fairing with the shutdowns and stay at home order. They ask if we are open, when we will begin running trips again, aren’t we considered essential, and more. Some argue that we are considered essential, that they’ve even gone so far as to ask state conservation officers if guides can work and have been told that we can. The answer seems more complicated to some and obvious to others, depending on who you talk to.
Workers and businesses that “support the seafood and fishing industry” are considered essential and apparently fishing guides fit into that category. I had one client tell me that a conservation officer told him that guides can guide, so long as they can maintain strict social distancing guidelines. I have had friends and supporters who know that being a fishing guide is how I make the majority of my living advise that I should take people out on my boat and “just maintain a distance of six-feet apart.”
The CDC says, “Limiting face-to-face contact with others is the best way to reduce the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).” They say that social distancing, also called “physical distancing,” means keeping space between yourself and other people outside of your home. To practice social or physical distancing, the CDC says we should stay at least 6 feet (about 2 arms’ length) from other people, not gather in groups, and stay out of crowded places and avoid mass gatherings. It is also known that many people who get coronavirus will not have any symptoms at all, and that high risk people (those with compromised immune systems, underlying health conditions, and pregnant women) are likely to die if they contract coronavirus. My clients come from all over. Many from hard hit Massachusetts and even harder hit New York. Even if they have no symptoms, there’s no way to know for sure until wider testing is available.
For those who don’t know, a guided trip is done on a boat. Ours is a 17 ½’ center console with about a 7 ½’ beam. Standing along the outside edges of my boat, two average-sized people have about 5’ between them. There goes the ability to stay 6-feet apart. The trip also consists of a guide, who rigs gear, baits lines, changes tackle, nets fish, and much more during the course of the trip. Having run thousands of trips, I know that it is physically impossible to maintain social distancing guidelines during a guided trip. I also know that a few of the guides in the state have chosen to proceed with guided trips during the stay at home order. I’m not condemning anyone for deciding for themselves how to keep their business afloat during this time, but from what I see, they are finding it as impossible to practice social distancing as I do.
I find the idea of being able to run fishing charters, while maintaining social distancing guidelines to be a paradox. I’m not saying the state is wrong, I’m not saying the CDC is wrong, and I’m not saying that other guides who have chosen to forge on are wrong. I’m saying that I’d rather be cautious and live as though the danger from COVID-19 is real and find out that it isn’t, than live as though it isn’t real only to find out it is.
I’m not an economist, a medical expert, or a government official responsible for the safety of our citizens. I’m making a decision that is right for me, which isn’t going to be right for everyone in this situation. Just as the states need a plan to reopen their economies, I am working on one to reopen my business that includes a safe and responsible approach and places the well-being of my clients, their families, myself, and my family above income.

Tim Moore is a full-time professional fishing guide in New Hampshire. He owns and operates Tim Moore Outdoors Guide Service. He is a member of the New England Outdoors Writers Association and the producer of Tim Moore Outdoors TV. Visit www.TimMooreOutdoors.com for more information.